Our keynote speech will this year be delivered by Sara Bryson

Sara is the Policy and Research Manager at Children North East where she has worked for almost seven years. 

Children North East was founded in 1891 as the Poor Children’s Holiday Association and has been developing innovative responses to tackling child poverty in the North East of England for over 125 years.   

Sara leads on the child poverty programmes of work for the charity: developing ‘Poverty Proofing the School Day,’  nationally celebrated programme to remove barriers to learning for disadvantaged pupils; managing Community Action on Poverty -youth led solutions to poverty at a neighbourhood level; and coordinating Poverty Ends Now (PEN), a youth led initiative to tackle child poverty. PEN recently developed a child led manifesto to end child poverty for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Poverty.  At a Policy level Sara is a member of the Holiday Hunger task group of the All Party Parliamentary Group on School Food.

Sara has worked with children and young people to ensure their views and experiences inform policy, practice and research for over 15 years – both regionally and nationally within Sure Start Children’s Centres, Children’s Fund, The Children’s Society and the Office for the Children’s Commissioner for England.

Sara is a 2016 Clore Social Leadership Fellow, exploring ways in which to increase meaningful social change http://www.cloresocialleadership.org.uk

Sara was born and raised in the west end of Newcastle and studied at the London School of Economics. Her passions are tackling structural inequality and championing children’s rights.

Sara will outline from a child and young person's perspective what it means to grow up in poverty in the North East of England today.  Exploring how child poverty impacts on a child's life chances; specifically their health (both physical and mental health) and their education.  Sara will draw on data as well as research with children and young people themselves.  Sara firmly believes that the root causes of poverty are structural inequalities rather than individual behavioural failings.  Therefore, solutions will focus on the structural changes required such as well paying jobs, and the role that the business community can play.